Between Heartbeats
by DirtyAim
Summary: Bella and Jacob would never be. He caught when her eyes lingered, when her touch strayed, when her soul spoke... and every time he felt the stir of echoes within his own.


A/N: This is my first fic. I have no beta, but I did *try* to check for spelling and grammar errors. If you are kind enough to review, please don't send I hate Jacob flames. ^_^;

Renesme was perfect. To Jacob, anything about her could change and he would still feel the same.

Her purity glowed from within and he was sure that he had never seen anything more beautiful.

She liked to watch him, endless brown eyes laughing as he did something silly for her benefit and the warm glow he felt in her presence made his heart ache with love.

_Like her mother_

Unnaturally strong for a child, the gentle fall of her eyelashes as she slept betrayed her fragility. It was in moments like these-where she seemed more like the child she was- that he realized just how much he would give for her, and how grateful he was that she needed him.

He reached for her, held her in his arms with a fierce protectiveness that felt like it would crush him from all he breathed an internal sigh of relief that her little body was warm with life and not cold as marble.

_Like her mother._

She was the reason for his existence now. He had turned his back on the one he loved, devoted himself to someone else by an unnatural -and unbreakable- force.

It had not been his choice; he couldn't change it and he didn't want to-now.

Sometimes he tried to feel ashamed, tried to search out the old familiar anger at the thought of being tied to anyone but her, but his heart was empty of it; completely gutted to make room for one person.

It didn't matter whether he had wanted it or love he had felt before could not withstand what fate had decided for him.

_ Just like her mother. _

But sometimes when he was alone, (which was rare considering pack duties and all the damn hovering going on), he could feel it. Distant echoes in his soul tried to whisper to him, to beckon him, to remind him. Once he was within the presence of Renesme it disappeared, like a pale ghost that refused to rest but was unable to stand up to the light of day.

And once or twice( or more if he was really acknowledging it, which he _wasn't_)-once or twice he found himself leaning into Bella's hug a little too much or becoming trapped in her eyes after having one of their meaningless rambles once she had put Renesme to bed. Once, during a friendly embrace, he had caught just a hint of her familiar scent beneath the sweet stench. His teeth had locked together against the impossible desire to drink her in, never to lose her **(Bella!)** sweet smell in his memories even if he no longer belonged to her, or she to him. It had flashed through his being in less than a second, in less time than it took for his heart to beat- and he had given in.

_Just like her._

He had caught her sweet sigh by his ear as he quickly, deeply inhaled. He was totally unprepared for it what it did to him, but even more unprepared for her. Two of her cold fingers had gently run along the inside of his wrist, tracing down his palm and lingering in the middle before stroking once, purposefully, and then completed their path along his index finger.

But even though she was already turning away from him , even though the feeling was already being buried by the imprint and he joked about how bad she smelled- the longing in her sigh had resonated with the echo inside him and he felt **marked**.It had happened faster than even a vampire or werewolf would see, but the trail she had traced on his skin had burned for days.

He noticed more after that, even though he didn't want to. He caught when her eyes lingered, when her touch strayed, when her soul spoke...

and every time he felt the stir of echoes within his own.

Bella and Jacob would never **be**. In life's original blueprint it had once been mapped out that they would be together, as perfect as sun and air. But that was in an ordinary world without monsters or magic. Now the thought couldn't even fully form in his mind it was so inconceivable. She was eternal stone beauty and he was forever the heart-bound protector.

Their hearts were not theirs to give.

But in between their captive heartbeats, stolen and precious, they **did**. Safe in the space where nothing existed, they found each other once more.


End file.
